Hot Air rework station

[EasyGoing1]

I want to get a hot air rework station. The last one I purchased was one of those cheap $50 units that had a soldering iron as well as the hot air. It broke within like four months.

What I'm hoping to achieve with this post, is to get some discussion on the topic; What to look for, what to avoid, and also recommendations on specific units. I'm not looking to find the cheapest unit I can find. I want something that is good quality that will last a long time and will also deliver heat well with accurate temperature selection and it should also be able to vary the speed of the air moving through the wand.

That being said, I'm not going to spend $600 on a Weller ... that seems a bit excessive to me.

So any comments, opinions, recommendations?

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Hot Air

I have this model and have been very pleased with it preforms I have another version that I use more often but they work for what I use it for

https://www.mpja.com/mobile/Hot-Air-...info/34737+TL/

[stj]

Re: Hot Air

rossmann reviewed a really good one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYCmU6jMLo8


he sells them now.

https://store.rossmanngroup.com/atten-862.html

[diif]

Re: Hot Air

Rossmann uses a Quick 861DW, he sells those also.

He did a review of them both. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYCmU6jMLo8

[dicky96]

Re: Hot Air rework station

I have one of the cheap 858D which I have had for about 6 years

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3305...archweb201603_

And also a Quick 861DW which I bought 18 months ago
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001...archweb201603_

From having used both. the Quick 861DW is a pure joy to work with and has never let me down, whatever I try to tackle with it

I bought the 861DW partly due to advice here and on other forums plus Louis Rossman excellent review and recommendation

I have absolutely no reason or desire to change the Quick 861DW for anything else, however Louis is now recommending the Atten ST-862D which has says is at least as good as, or better than, the Quick and it is also cheaper. I never used one but if Louis recommends it than I would value his judgment

Rich

[EasyGoing1]

Re: Hot Air rework station

I have one of the cheap 858D which I have had for about 6 years

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3305...archweb201603_

And also a Quick 861DW which I bought 18 months ago
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001...archweb201603_

From having used both. the Quick 861DW is a pure joy to work with and has never let me down, whatever I try to tackle with it

I bought the 861DW partly due to advice here and on other forums plus Louis Rossman excellent review and recommendation

I have absolutely no reason or desire to change the Quick 861DW for anything else, however Louis is now recommending the Atten ST-862D which has says is at least as good as, or better than, the Quick and it is also cheaper. I never used one but if Louis recommends it than I would value his judgment

Rich

The price difference between the two is like $12 ... not even worth mentioning ... that Quick 861DW looks like a solid machine at least on the outside.

[stj]

Re: Hot Air rework station

rossman actually no longer sells the quick because the company fucked him around with regard to pricing and delivery.

[EasyGoing1]

Re: Hot Air

Rossmann uses a Quick 861DW, he sells those also.

He did a review of them both. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYCmU6jMLo8

Watched the whole video. Very interesting - not just about the hardware but about the issues he's had to deal with in those relationships with the manufacturers.

[EasyGoing1]

Re: Hot Air rework station

rossman actually no longer sells the quick because the company fucked him around with regard to pricing and delivery.

I'm kinda curious about why he makes a big deal out of having attachments that are angled at 45 degrees ... almost as if not being able to get those would be a deal-breaker.

And yeah, not having the product ship for WEEKS after having wired them the money is ridiculous. A lot of Asian companies won't tell customers that they don't have inventory, so they take the sale and shuffle their feet while they wait for manufacturing to provide inventory... I wonder if that's what the issue was in his case, that they simply didn't tell him that they didn't have enough units to ship at the time. It's a bad practice, either way, honesty is the only way to maintain a solid relationship.

I'm still waiting on some Raspberry Pi Nanos that I ordered from a site that was on Raspberry's website as a recommended reseller. It's been two months ... I don't expect to see them and I paid for them when I ordered them.

[EasyGoing1]

Re: Hot Air rework station

Well, I ordered the Atten 862-D from Amazon. Should have it tomorrow.

I appreciate everyone helping me figure this out.

[stj]

Re: Hot Air rework station

funny enough, i am also waiting for a pi pico that i ordered months ago!!
as for the angled attachment - i imagine it's to stay clear of the microscope.

[EasyGoing1]

Re: Hot Air rework station

funny enough, i am also waiting for a pi pico that i ordered months ago!!
as for the angled attachment - i imagine it's to stay clear of the microscope.

I successfully ordered some Pi Pico's from a UK company ... they had stock and had them to me within 5 days. If you're interested, I'll look up which company it was and post the link.

[EasyGoing1]

Re: Hot Air rework station

Got the new unit just about a couple hours ago...

The box was COMPLETELY covered in tape which was weird ...







Lots of attachments ... and two of them have this weird star-shaped air flow restrictor in them ... not sure what's up with that...



So first I used the fluke to check the temp of the air at the tip, and it needed to be adjusted 30 degrees C up... then I took a scrap board and tested it out and all I can say is ... I have been seriously screwing myself for YEARS by not having one of these ... I can't even count how many times I screwed something up trying to desolder with an iron and wick when this thing literally has the solder melted in less than 5 seconds ... its absolutely wonderful! And built like a brick shit house!

[stj]

Re: Hot Air rework station

the restrictor is probably to give the air time to heat up.
about the temp.
everybody has their own idea about how far from the target you hold the wand.
so everybody is going to get a different reading.

[diif]

Re: Hot Air rework station

It's not a restrictor, it's to get the air spinning in a spiral pattern.

[EasyGoing1]

Re: Hot Air rework station

It's not a restrictor, it's to get the air spinning in a spiral pattern.

That's kind of what I was wondering when I looked at it closer, it looked like that would be the effect. They work good! I've got a $20 heat gun from Harbor Freight which when I've tried to use it in the past to do re-work, I've had to hold it on the components for several minutes then I had components from the other side of the board fall off and it was just a nightmare.

Using this machine is like driving a Cadillac! lol

[mlemon]

Re: Hot Air rework station

I wonder when used the H.F. heat gun, was it set to High or Low? I believe the Low setting is 560 deg C.

[EasyGoing1]

Re: Hot Air rework station

I wonder when used the H.F. heat gun, was it set to High or Low? I believe the Low setting is 560 deg C.

I don't remember ... I do know that the high setting tends to work pretty fast, but the dispersion of heat is WAY too wide to be useful for re-work.